The more things boom in Greater Des Moines, the bigger the shock when you take a windshield tour of a town such as Osceola. Just 45 miles away from the explosive development of West Des Moines, and blessed with an Interstate 35 location, the place has a hangdog look about it.

With any luck, Osceola’s leaders will find a solid, prosperous manufacturer to move into the empty Siemens Energy & Automation plant. Elizabeth Simpson, a program manager at the Clarke County Development Corp., says an offer has been made. (Somebody should snap it up; it’s 135,000 square feet on 19 acres and priced at $1.6 million.)

An infusion of good-paying jobs might lead to a spruced-up town. In the meantime, the city and county are just grateful to have Terrible’s Lakeside Casino nearby to provide jobs and revenues.

In 2004, Clarke County received about $740,000 from the casino, and Osceola and the Clarke County Development Corp., the casino license-holder, each got about $900,000. The state’s take was more than $12 million.

The money has gone to all sorts of good projects, Simpson said, listing street improvements, programs to help Hispanic immigrants, textbooks for the schools and even flags for the cemeteries.

And now the Clarke County Foundation will donate up to $5,000 toward exterior home improvements, and up to $5,000 to people who move into the county and build a home.

All good stuff. But the overall situation looks like another scary example of the direction Iowa is headed. Not enough jobs, not enough residents and a growing dependence on gambling revenues to keep the place from falling apart.

You can’t stick a hideous Las Vegas-style sign alongside the interstate and expect it to outweigh a weak local economy.

Osceola is interested in developing more recreation to draw tourism, and that’s fine. It’s another leg of the stool. But every region in Iowa is going to have to find ways to produce tangible items or generate valuable intellectual property if we’re going to get strong again.

It seems as if we’re trying to replace corn and soybeans with blackjack and roulette, and that’s not going to work.